Longlife service intervals - do you trust 'em for used cars?

[AcidReflux]

In the last 12 months we've accidentally bought two brand new cars, and both of them have long-life service intervals. One's a 2.0 diesel and one's a 1.2 petrol. Both have now done around 9000 miles. Both have a service interval mileage readout and both are merrily still suggesting a further 9000 miles to run before they need a service.

I'm of course happy to wait another year for the first service on each because - particularly in the case of the diesel - the miracle oil made from virgins' tears that the manufacturers recommend is expensive.

I've Gooooogled and found lots of people (owners, presumably) happily sticking to the manufacturers' recommendations, and plenty of internet experts saying that in their humble opinion it's not possible for an engine to survive with such long service intervals without exploding.

My opinion is that if the manufacturer is happy to warrant their vehicles with these service intervals then who am I to question the schedule? But would you be happy buying a car a few years old with a perfect history of service stamps on the long-life schedule? Or would you hope to see a paranoid owner paying the dealer a small fortune to change the oil at least annually despite all the research that oil and engine manufacturers have done?

[AcidReflux]

Thanks for all the replies.

Nick3point2 said:

Personally I like to give my car a thorough going over every 9000 miles like my fixed service interval requires. Costs £40 for 5l of the correct spec oil (still supposed to be longlife oil for my car regardless of interval) and a filter so I have no objections to changing it 'more often than I need to'.

If oil were that cheap for ours then I'd probably do the same, but the diesel requires oil from the dealer at about £20 a litre.

As long as the owner has stuck to the manufacturer's recommendations perfectly I wouldn't have any doubts about buying a car with long-life servicing. I'm surprised how few people have replied with 'no' to my original question. It's reassuring, I suppose.

[AcidReflux]

muthaducka said:

I'd like to know what oil costs £20 a litre? You should be able to buy the equivalent / same oil much cheaper for your car.

As far as I'm aware, the approved oil is only available from VAG dealers... who set their own market price of course. If there's an equivalent then I'd be happy to find it.

[AcidReflux]

Ohh... that's very useful. Thank you. I'll investigate those options.

So if you were me and were happy to do an oil change yourself, would you record this on the service history for the dealer to see (and potentially use against me if anything went wrong with the engine) or would you just keep the oil receipts and show a potential buyer at resale time as evidence of regular oil changes? I'm leaning towards the latter option.

[AcidReflux]

Bluebarge said:

There should be an oil spec quoted in the handbook - VW507 or such like.

There certainly is. The VW in the code led me to assume that it's unique to VAG and therefore only available through them, but we all know about assuming things.

Thanks to you and all who've suggested oils and sources. I'll investigate for both cars and get my socket set out.